guns

I grew up with guns. One gun, my grandfather’s WWII Colt M1911, looms large in my memory. My father tells the story of one night when Grandpa got drunk and shot a hole in the wall of his small house in Martins Ferry, Ohio. The tale was a warning: don’t be stupid. I took it to heart.
My father taught me shooting safety and took me to plink cans down by the Ohio River. In high school… Read More

Another day, another 3D-printed gun. This one comes to us from a carpenter from West Virginia who calls himself Derwood. His gun is “95 percent” 3D printed which means the important bits – springs, firing pins, etc. – are handmade or repurposed (the barrel comes from a Glock) while the stock, magazine, and upper and lower receivers are printed on a Fusion F306 3D… Read More

Prepare yourself for an onslaught media panic because the Ghost Gunner, essentially a kit that lets you print your own AR-15 lower receiver, is ready to ship and getting press attention again.
The Ghost Gunner comes to us from Defense Distributed, the creator of the first 3D-printed gun.
Here’s the truth: the Ghost Gunner is not a gun. It is not even part of a gun. It is essentially a… Read More

Maker Peter Alaric DeSimone has created a 3D-printed dart pistol that shoots 40mm blowgun darts using a piston system. The entire gun takes about eight hours to build and features rubber bands to bring the piston down and reset the trigger.
DeSimone made a point to note that the gun is completely legal and is a direct reaction to proposed regulation that could make all gun blueprints –… Read More

3D printed guns aren’t very compelling right now. Because of the vagaries of plastic and the methods used to manufacture weapons like the Liberator, your gun can turn itself into a hand grenade if you’re not careful. But engineer Michael Crumling might have a solution. Read More

Solid Concepts, a company that specializes in 3D printing in metal and now owned by Stratasys, as announced their second 3D-printed metal gun, the Reason.
Their first gun, the 1911, as well as this one were made by sintering – melting – metal powder with a laser. However, from the detail on the barrel and handle it’s clear the company has improved the technology immensely… Read More

When Japanese police arrested Yoshitomo Imura for printing his own revolvers, 3D printing advocates in some circles were up in arms. The guns, which only fired blanks, were simple test models called the Zig-Zag. Now, in honor of Imura’s work in 3D printing, a CAD designer has created a newer, better gun that could be used to fire real bullets.
The designer, who calls himself WarFairy… Read More

Latest Crunch Report

A gunmaker who calls himself Buck O’Fama (get it?) has posted a video of his 3D-printed Ruger Charger receiver. This single part, which usually holds the serial number and is an integral part of the firing mechanism, is, technically, the only part that defines a weapon as an actual gun. By printing his (or her) own, O’Fama has essentially skirted the law that requires all firearms… Read More

Police arrested a 27-year-old university official from Kawasaki City, Yoshitomo Imura, after he posted a video of himself firing a 3D-printed six shooter called the Zig Zag revolver. Imura was employed at the Shonan Institute of Technology and owned a $500 home 3D printer. Read More

The most unproductive Congress in history could not manage to update a ban on plastic guns for the era of 3D printed weapons. Today, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to extend the Undetectable Firearms Act but didn’t amend the law to require permanent metal inserts.
As the law stands, gun manufactures abide by an honors system that they will promise to keep enough metal… Read More

A Danish company called Create It Real has built a software package that recognizes digital gun part models and prevents them from being printed. The software compares each piece you are attempting to print with a database of potential firearm parts and, the company notes, “for safety reasons, there are no models of firearms stored on the user’s computer but rather a list of… Read More

Now that we have confirmation that the Liberator 3D-printed pistol can be fired without destroying the body, let’s address what this means for 3D printed weapons and, presumably, homemade weapons in general. Read More

While Defense Distributed, the Thingiverse for gun parts, has been working on a 3D-printed lower receiver for the AR-15 for some time now, they’ve finally announced that they’ve completed a real 3D-printed handgun called the Liberator. Made entirely out of 3D-printed ABS with the exclusion of a single nail used as the firing pin, it looks to be the fruition of DefDist’s… Read More

I’ve written a number of times about how ubiquitous Linux has become. It powers supercomputers and cell phones. It’s in automotive infotainment systems. It’s in medical equipment. It’s also now in firearms, thanks to the folks at Tracking Point. Read More

Defense Distributed, a group run primarily by gunsmith Cody Wilson, has released a video of an AR-15 with a 3D-printed lower receiver firing off over 600 rounds, a unique feat in the realm of 3D-printed parts. The part, called the AR Lower V5, worked nearly perfectly while firing 600 rounds and, as Wilson notes, “the test ended when we ran out of ammunition, but this lower could… Read More

As the race – and it’s basically a race – to release as many 3D-printed gun parts as possible heats up, it’s never been harder for me to come down on the side of the “Freedom To Tinker” crowd. Last weekend Defense Distributed, a group dedicated to releasing plans for a 3D printed gun, posted a video and description of their 3D-printed AR-15 thirty-round… Read More

Imagine it’s Thanksgiving morning and you’re with the family. You creep down the stairs, Sheriff in hand, and sneak in on dear old dad as he makes bacon pancakes. You set your weapon on “shotgun” and pull the trigger. A volley of hot rubber whangs him in the legs, his old frame buckling as he takes the shot. Another kill. All this can be yours with the Bandit, an… Read More